When we say catfishing, we really don’t mean throwing a line out into the water, and waiting for a fish with a mustache to take the bait.
The term originated from the documentary Catfish , and at a baseline level, describes false advertising of things — usually people. In the documentary, Nev Schulman was catfished into falling in love with a woman online, who he later discovered wasn’t at all what he thought she was.
The metaphor, if you will, was crafted from the behavior catfish exhibit when used during the transportation of cod from Alaska to China.
In the documentary , the husband of Schulman’s “catfish” said, “By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile.”
Catfish in the deceptive sense are therefore described as those who “keep you on your toes.”
“They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh,” explained the fisherman.
Since then, the term has been used to describe any expectations that an online presence has created, but has not lived up to.
To this day, people are still being catfished on dating apps like Tinder, or blog sites like Tumblr.
But now, it seems like the catfishing has expanded to new horizons.
Travel has become more and more popular for everyday people with the rise of apps like Airbnb, and websites like Expedia and Booking.
Travel is reachable, and it’s made to appear simple by the convenience of cutting out the “middle man” and booking yourself.
Most of us believe that we’re smart enough to spot a scam, and trustworthy enough to take most of what we see as factual.
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With that accessibility comes a level of trust in the people on the other end of the line — something historically vetted by travel agents.
And without that safety net, it’s easy to be tricked into booking a trip that looks great, but ends up garbage.
Twitter user @jennykershawx shared her own experience with destination deception and it had the internet crackin’ up.
Planning a trip to Vietnam, Jenny had her hopes set pretty high when she booked a hotel using Booking.com. Based on the photos alone, it looked unreal for the price.
But the reasonable price, along with the breathtaking view should have been her first clue.
She shared her expectations photo, and we already know the reality pic is going to be wild.
That’s pretty darn unreal, right?
Who doesn’t want an infinity pool with a great view in the city, probably overlooking some greenery? Major insta moment alert!
And then she added her “reality” photo… and well…
I mean, it’s still a pool, and it’s still on the roof, and we’re sure the water is comfortable… But that ain’t no infinity pool! And absolutely NOT what she thought she was getting herself into.
Apparently. Booking.com saw her tweet and offered to fix the issue, but she wasn’t too concerned.
In a now deleted tweet, she said “It’s ok, I don’t want to file a complaint…it’s just funny.”
What a good sport!
The drastic contrast between the expectations versus the reality obviously had twitter poppin’ off with memes.
One person even point out just how tiny the pool really was. LOL.
All in all, Jenny took the experience pretty well, and made the internet laugh along with it.
h/t: Distractify
